1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a positioning apparatus installed inside a printer and more particularly to a positioning apparatus installed inside a printer for controlling the positioning of parts.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order for a printer to perform its job, many tasks within the printer must take place. Several of the tasks are similar in the fact that they involve the positioning of a printer part. The position that a printer part is usually dependent on the stage of printing the printer is in. In the case of dye diffusion thermal transfer printers, the position of the printer parts can be divided into being either in contact or non-contact with another printer part and the stages of printing are Initial, Load, Print, and Eject.
Because of the complication in positioning printer parts that have different cycles of contact and non-contact throughout the printing stages, most printers have a controller for each printer part that needs positioning. To illustrate the complication, take the following as an example. The task of pinching the paper involves positioning the printers pinch into the contact position (relative to the printers capstan) during the Load, Print, and Eject stage while positioning the printers pinch into the non-contact position (relative to the printers capstan) in the Initial stage. However, the task of bringing paper to the printers print head involves positioning the printers platen into the contact position (relative to the print head) during the Print stage but positioning the printers platen into the non-contact position (relative to the print head) in the Initial, Load, and Eject stage. As one can see, both tasks in the example involve positioning a part into either a contact or non-contact position but with each task having its own timing of contact and non-contact throughout the printing stages.
The common solution of providing a controller to move each of these printer parts is adequate to address the complication but not without its drawbacks. Employing the common solution, as in the example above, meant that two controllers are needed one for the pinch and the other for the platen. The drawback is that the printer has several parts, meaning that will be a corresponding number of controllers. Increased number of controllers translates into increased production cost, which may be small in the manufacturing of a single printer but is increased many times over during the mass production of the printer.